Heroin's hell

As addicts die in alleys, call goes out to address overdoses

May 4, 2006

Robert I. Bovell's brother died of a drug overdose in Wilmington. The medical examiner told him that his brother's bloodstream contained no heroin, only pure fentanyl, a drug that a DEA agent says is "100 times more potent than morphine." / The News Journal/ROBERT CRAIG

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The News Journal

"This is murder in the first degree," said New Castle County Councilman Jea Street. / The News Journal/FRED COMEGYS

RESOURCES

HOW TO HELP

Wilmington, New Castle County and Delaware State Police say illegal drug activity may be reported to 911.

The Interdenominational Ministers Action Council, at 777-1190 or 654-3101 welcomes all groups and individuals who want to partner in its efforts to fight heroin and other illegal drugs.

HOW TO GET HELP

Drug users may get help by calling Brandywine Counseling at 656-2348, ext. 43, said staffer James Harrison. The Department of Health and Social Services also provides aid.

FREE HEROIN PROGRAMS

New Castle County Police Department offers free community education presentations in its Heroin Alert Program. For information, or to offer tips, visit www.nccpd.com.

DELAWARE OVERDOSE DEATHS

City, county and state police, as well as federal drug officials, paramedics and other leaders, say Delaware's rash of fatal overdoses of heroin, some with the painkiller fentanyl, began in mid-April. Rescuers also report many "close calls" of users revived from near-death.

1. APRIL 20: A 27-year-old woman from Wilmington was found by city police and rescuers after suffering an overdose in the 1800 block of Lancaster Ave. in the city. She later died.

2. APRIL 22: A 22-year-old from Denver was found dead at a Days Inn motel on Churchmans Road in the Stanton area. State police said they recovered a bag of heroin marked "Honda" at the scene.

3. APRIL 25: Workers arriving about 2 a.m. at a Rite-Aid drugstore on U.S. 40 in Bear found a 29-year-old man unconscious in an aisle. He was pronounced dead at the scene. State police found a heroin packet labeled "Honda." A relative identified the man as Jeffrey Moore, of Porter Square in Bear.

4. APRIL 25: Police investigating a report of a foul odor found Neil "Jai" Bovell, 38, of Wilmington, dead in an alley between boarded houses in the 200 block of Broom St., Wilmington. A drug bag with him was marked "Nyquil." A neighbor said she saw him go into the alley two days earlier. His family said it was told by the Office of the Medical Examiner that only fentanyl was found in his system.

5. APRIL 25: A woman from Milford was found unconscious at Fourth and Madison streets in Wilmington after police say she injected heroin in the bathroom of a nearby McDonald's. Revived by New Castle County paramedics, she was brain-injured and lingered several days before her death.

6. APRIL 28: 25-year-old Weslyn Baldwin was found by her mother about 9:45 a.m. and pronounced dead in her Hockessin-area home in Westgate Farms. New Castle County Police said they recovered syringes and drug bags stamped "Honda."

7. MAY 2: A 22-year-old man from Elkton, Md., was pronounced dead in a parking lot in the 300 block of E. Eighth St., Wilmington. A woman police said used drugs with him also overdosed. When she regained consciousness, she called 911, and remains hospitalized.

The Rev. H. Ward Greer, president of the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council, found an overdose victim near his church Tuesday. / The News Journal/FRED COMEGYS

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WILMINGTON -- Robert I. Bovell Jr.'s eyes flickered down briefly before he said how police found his brother.

"Face-down on the ground in an alley at Second and Broom ... dead from an overdose with the fresh needle marks in his arm."

The death of 38-year-old Neil "Jai" Bovell, of Wilmington -- one of seven Delaware fatalities tied to a purer-than-usual batch of heroin and the painkiller fentanyl -- is a scenario experts say is being repeated nationwide.

More than 30 people have been killed by such overdoses across the country since mid-April -- 15 in Philadelphia alone -- and hundreds more have been hospitalized, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.

"This is murder in the first degree," said New Castle County Councilman Jea Street.

Law enforcement and other agencies must use whatever resources are needed to "get these murderers and this killer drug off the street," he said, but the solution must be found beyond city, county or state levels.

In separate appeals Wednesday, the Interdenominational Ministers Action Council in Wilmington and a group of city, county, state and federal law enforcement and service agencies -- led by Mayor James M. Baker -- urged unity behind efforts to educate the public about deadly risks of heroin and to help users get recovery services they need.

New Castle County paramedics have responded with police and firefighters to more than 100 suspected overdoses since the rash began, said Chief Lawrence E. Tan, chief of the county's Emergency Medical Services.

Many of the calls -- all requiring full response and advanced life support -- come in as cardiac arrest, breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness or car accidents, and each one is a case of life and death, he said.

Cracking down on sources

Wilmington Police Department Inspector Martin Donahue said officers have been interviewing those who survive overdoses -- and many drug arrests and seizures have resulted, including one dealer arrested April 28 in possession of bags of pure fentanyl.

State prosecutor Steve Wood said heroin users need to know they are making a dangerous choice -- one which could kill them -- when they choose to use the drug.

To dealers, he said, "We're coming after you, we're going to catch you and we're going to put you away."

Assistant special agent in the Drug Enforcement Agency Barbara Roach said the federal agency also is "aggressively pursuing" the sources of the drugs.

Roach, in charge of the Philadelphia Field Division including Delaware, said Philadelphia has had more than 70 overdoses and 15 deaths; Harrisburg had 20 overdoses and four deaths, and Camden, N.J., had 70-plus overdoses, six deaths. Many involved fentanyl, she said, adding, "It's about 100 times more potent than morphine."

Days in Shooters Alley

"The medical examiner said, he told me there was no heroin in him," Bovell said, walking to where his brother died. "It was pure fentanyl in his system."

His brother was found at about 7:30 a.m. April 25 in the alley between boarded, vacant houses in the 200 block of Broom St. Police went there after a neighbor complained of a foul odor. Another neighbor said she saw him go back into the alley two days earlier.

"They call this Shooters Alley," Robert Bovell said, walking on empty drug bags, plastic beverage caps used to heat heroin and discarded lighters. He stepped over other debris ranging from human feces to condoms, and window boards pulled from buildings by those who would find shelter inside after their highs wore off.

In this spot, backed by a park where neighbors say drugs are common, Bovell said his brother sat on the back stoop of a house where a little old lady once kept a tidy home and lovely gardens.

"He was like this," Robert Bovell said, leaning over as if holding a syringe in one hand to his other arm -- the junkie's pose. "One to eight seconds, he was dead," Bovell said.

From other heroin users who attended his brother's funeral Saturday and from interviewing people he knows from his work as a bail bondsman, Robert Bovell said he learned his brother may have been there with a young woman who took the needle and left. When he tried to track her down to find out where the drugs came from, Bovell said he learned that she, too, was dead of an overdose.

Wilmington police said they could not confirm those details, but are investigating the possible link between Bovell's death and that of Weslyn Baldwin, 25, found dead Friday in her Hockessin-area home.

Hoping to spare others such grief and help users stop drugs, Bovell joined the ministers' call to action Wednesday.

Clergy get involved

The ministers called for more community policing, employment and recreation programs, and federal action to fight the flow of illegal drugs. And they said action is needed now, before more lives are lost and summer idleness leads more young people into drug dealing, use and addiction.

"There is a serial killer loose in our community," said the Rev. Silvester Beaman.

Renee Beaman, director of the Beautiful Gate Outreach Center, said the recent overdoses also point out "the direct connection between heroin use and the risk of HIV infection."

The Rev. H. Ward Greer, ministers council president and pastor of Ezion-Mount Carmel United Methodist Church, where the group met Wednesday, said Delaware's most-recent overdose death was next door to the 201-year-old church.

Driving into the church lot Tuesday, Greer saw a body in the lot beyond a fence, "and I knew what I saw lying on the ground was one of the victims of this so-called 'laced heroin.' "

The Rev. Maurice Moyer said stopping the trend will require international muscle on supplying countries.

He, the Rev. Tyrone Johnson and others also offered condolences to the Bovells and other grieving families, and encouraged Delawareans to support them -- as well as those still suffering in addiction -- with compassion and prayer.

A difficult life

Jai Bovell was getting in trouble before he quit high school. His issues were drug-related, petty crime, threatening folks who owed him money. Many times, his brother searched for him, sometimes finding him in Shooters Alley.

Robert Bovell said his brother just got out of jail April 21, after serving six months for violating probation on a charge from the 1980s.

Robert Bovell said his brother told him he was ready to fix his life -- and Robert Bovell believed him.

In Mexico for work, Robert Bovell had his staff post his brother's bail. He planned to help him get into a drug rehab program when he got home, but his trip ended early with the call his brother was dead. Now, despite the family's grief, Bovell said, "at least I know where he is. ... He's in a better place."